Organic Matter

Fall leaves give you an excellent source of organic matter to improve your gardens. Use a lawn mower to chop up the leaves, then add a bit of soil to help them break down quickly. Soon they will turn into crumbly leaf mold, which is Mother Nature's gold for your garden. Other excellent sources of organic matter include composted kitchen and yard waste such as grass clippings. Organic matter helps soil hold nutrients, retain moisture and increase aeration. For more Hampton Roads gardening tips, visit hrgardening.

If you want to put basic organic gardening techniques to use in your own yard, three local experts with different backgrounds are eager to share their expertise with you. "Growing your own food organically is easier to do than you think and incredibly rewarding," says Amy Hicks, 43, of Amy's Garden, a USDA certified organic family farm that grows 10 acres of produce and cut flowers in Charles City County (www.amysorganicgarden.com). She sells at farmers markets in Richmond and Williamsburg, and provides "member" customers with weekly flowers and produce through Virginia's Community Supported Agriculture at http://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/vagrown.

He's Captain Compost to the rescue - saving earthworms from chemical destruction and giving plants a fighting chance at good health. Captain Compost, as his e-mails always read, is actually Bill Garlette, a Newport News master gardener whose philosophy is compost is the heart of healthy soil. "Compost provides essential organic matter, beneficial microbiology and basic nutrients," he says. Garlette lives in Kiln Creek where soils are known to be compacted and heavy clay.

A good gardener hungers for friable soil. What's friable mean? It's a term to describe soil texture that is loose and crumbly, easily penetrated by roots and water. Soil takes on a friable texture when you work organic matter into it once a year. Even applications of mulch will gradually break down and improve soil, especially if you work older mulch into the soil before you add a new top layer. Soil texture is determined by the proportion of each of the different-sized particles it contains.

The following tips on ways you can help preserve water quality while helping your plants achieve optimum health and production are from The Virginia Gardener Year Round Guide to Nutrient Management published by the Virginia Extension Service. 1. Don't bag those clippings. Returning clippings will return nutrients to your lawn. 2. Build a compost pile and you convert trash to treasure. Such throwaways as leaves, grass clippings and fruit and vegetable scraps decompose into priceless organic matter.

Think "right plant, right place" when planning your landscape. In Hampton Roads, soil is a major concern for successful planting. Our soils are mostly dense clay with little organic matter. Plus, our homes are built on marginal lands. Result: poorly drained soils that are not good for plants. If your soil drains poorly, you need to incorporate 2 inches of organic matter (compost, sewerage sludge) into 6-8 inches of soil. When shopping for plants, look for plants resistant to disease and pests.

Home gardeners have a significant role to play in local efforts directed at environmental awareness. Direclty or indirectly, we are all home gardeners and improving water quality, air quality and community aesthetics are responsibilities that rest on our shoulders just as firmly as on those of industry, business and government. Basic to most gardening, landscaping and lawn management endeavors is the need for good soil. The term "good soil" is an oxymoron for many would-be gardeners.

How many times have you planted the perfect shrub or flower in the perfect spot only to find that it didn't favor its new home? Plants thrive and flourish in soil conditions ideally suited for them, but you'll rarely find ideal soil in your garden. Don't get discouraged. You can always improve soil conditions to achieve healthier plant growth and better produce. But how is a gardener to learn all that needs to be learned about enriching garden soil without spending a fortune on a reference library or enrolling the nearest horticultural classes?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Tidewater Gardens, which is normally printed in this space, will appear the first Sunday of each month. The remaining weeks will feature other garden-related articles. (The wire articles will not be kept in the database.) The earthworm is a special sort of worm. Almost alone among its brethren, it does not inspire horror. In fact, the earthworm is almost alone among all the invertebrates in the tenderness it inspires. Once they know that a worm in the sun is as good as dead - its skin has no defense against desiccation - most children will place it gently in the shadow of a log or cover it with a light handful of soil.

Husband Ken and I occasionally use a lawn service to keep our grass growing healthy. Mostly, we rely on Grass Roots, a Yorktown-based group that closely follows research and recommendations from turf experts at Virginia Tech. Last year, we used Grass Roots to help get our new Bermuda grass going and we will again this year. The company's 2008 introductory letter makes me even happier because it says there will be more organic matter worked into treatments, thereby reducing the amount of phosphorus and salts that can potentially damage nearby waterways.

There's nothing like mums on the front porch for fall. At my house, I don't plant them in the garden. Instead, I buy big pots of mums to stagger down the front steps. Sometimes I scatter containers of mums among shrubs in the garden, adding a pop of color where perennials and annuals are fading. I especially like to group three to five pots of mums in different size containers, but all in the same color, around a bale of straw and a comical-looking scarecrow. Around October, I add some pumpkins to the outdoor scene.

Smart gardeners know what it takes to be successful in the garden -- healthy soil. So, now, before you get in the planting mood, make sure your new gardening areas have the best soil you can provide. And take the time to improve the soil around your existing gardens. "Most gardeners know that every minute spent improving soil is time well spent, but there is more to growing great soil than hard work," says gardening author Barbara Pleasant. She lives and gardens in western North Carolina.

Bagging or dumping leaves at the roadside is a missed opportunity, says Barbara Pleasant, author of the gardening book called "The Southern Garden Advisor." "I wish I knew who came up with the phrase 'leaf litter,' which makes leaves sound like garbage," she says. "When handled properly, leaves can become garden gold. If you put them in a pile and be patient, leaves turn into a rich source of organic matter for garden soil. Rotted leaves improve the soil's texture, and provide 16 essential trace nutrients that plants need."

Good gardeners cultivate their skills. They plan and plot long before they ever plant. A successful gardener first prepares the soil, making sure it's healthy and nourishing so it feeds and supports the plants that are put there. In Hampton Roads, soil preparation is essential to successful gardening because our soil tends to run heavy with clay or sand. Few of us have the nice loamy soil found in the woods where plant debris, dead animals and other organic matter create natural humus.

Botanical name: Lilium longiflorum Plant selection: Look for plants with one or two partially open blooms and three or more puffy, unopened buds of different sizes. The puffy buds will open in a few days, while the tighter ones will bloom over the next several days. Indoor care: As the flowers mature, remove the yellow anthers before the pollen starts to shed. This gives longer flower life and prevents the pollen from staining the white flowers and your table linens.

Fall leaves give you an excellent source of organic matter to improve your gardens. Use a lawn mower to chop up the leaves, then add a bit of soil to help them break down quickly. Soon they will turn into crumbly leaf mold, which is Mother Nature's gold for your garden. Other excellent sources of organic matter include composted kitchen and yard waste such as grass clippings. Organic matter helps soil hold nutrients, retain moisture and increase aeration. For more Hampton Roads gardening tips, visit hrgardening.

PLENTY OF PEAT. Successful container gardening starts with healthy soil. Plenty of organic matter promotes healthy plant growth. One of the best sources of organic matter is sphagnum peat moss. Dig two inches of peat into the top six or eight inches of soil. Photo: Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss (www.peatmoss.com). THRIFTY TIPS. Hang a dish scrub brush on a tree by your birdbath to scrub it out when you refill it. Buy a green watering can and hide it under a bush in your garden between uses.